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MRCC: Moderate to extreme drought likely to continue

The associate director of the Midwestern Regional Climate Center says drought conditions are likely to persist in parts of the Corn Belt. 

Melissa Widhalm says moderate to extreme drought has developed due to the lack of winter precipitation.

“In areas of central Illinois, northern Indiana, across southeast and southern Missouri, and northwest Ohio,” she says. “That whole corridor in the central U.S. has been locked into drier than normal conditions. We do have increased chances that conditions will continue to be dry through the end of the month.”

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows more than 70 percent of the Midwest is experiencing drought conditions.

But, she tells Brownfield there could be an opportunity for some relief at the beginning of the month.

“The Midwest has been split in the middle where we’re getting a lot of systems affecting the Great Lakes and the Upper Midwest,” she says. “We’re also getting a lot of systems that are coming across the south. That will shift a little bit and put into a more favorable storm path, so we can start to benefit from some of this rainfall.”

Widhalm says current weather models are predicting wetter than normal conditions to develop towards the beginning of February. 

AUDIO: Melissa Widhalm, MRCC